The Other Side of the Story
by emebalia
Summary: Tag to 8x01, no spoilers but this story doesn't make much sense without knowing the episode. Amelia: "He's not anybody's." She was very quick with that assumption. Outsider POV.


**The Other Side of the Story**

"Buster? Buster!" Sean ran down the street, leash with empty collar dangling from his tight fist. "Buster, come here, boy."

He'd been in the store for only a minute to check on the comic books and before that he'd made sure to fasten the leash so Buster couldn't run away. He hadn't expected for the dog to slip out of his collar and run off anyway. That had been half an hour ago and no sign of the dog since.

"Buster!" The annoyance he had felt at the sight of the empty collar had long vanished. Back than he'd thought he'd to chase Buster down the street to get the collar back on. Again. The dog seriously thought it was a fun game and by the way his tongue lolled out of his mouth in that dog laugh way for him it was hilarious to watch Sean chasing after him. Buster had been with him for only a week now but he had pulled that stunt three times already.

But the dog hadn't been a few yards down the street waiting for the game to start. There had been no sign of Buster at all and the annoyance had shifted to dread really quickly.

Since then Sean had searched the area in larger and larger circles around the store.

"Mister? Excuse me?" Sean jogged up to a man walking in the other direction. "Mister, have you seen a dog? His name is Buster, he's brown and white fur." Clenching the leash in his fist he blinked against the tears swelling up in his eyes. "He's my best friend."

The man looked down at him with sorrow. "Sorry, boy. I haven't seen him."

Sean's heart dropped but by now he was used to that answer. Nobody had seen him.

"Thanks." He whispered and turned away. Behind him he heard the man promising to let him know if he saw his dog and Sean nodded at that promise. Had heard that one a few times too in the last few minutes. But nobody had come back to him with good news yet.

It was getting dark and Sean should have been home a while ago, he knew that, but he couldn't leave without Buster.

When his phone rang and Sean read "Mom" on the display his first thought wasn't his own delay.

"Did he come home?" Buster had made his way home, why hadn't he thought of that earlier? But his hopes were shattered by his mother asking what he was talking about.

"Where are you?" She added before Sean could explain. "You know how late it is?"

"Buster ran off." Sean finally said and now he really had trouble to hold back his tears. "He slipped out of the collar and I can't find him."

Minutes later both of his parents were there and they searched the area again.

"We'll find him." His father said with a confident smile. "He can't be that far."

They searched until it was completely dark and against Sean's protest the drove home. He kinda hoped to find Buster sitting on the doormat with that dog laugh of his waiting for his owner. But he wasn't there and he wasn't in the back yard either.

"Maybe he'll be here in the morning." Sean's mother tried to reassure him. "He knows where he belongs."

Sean nodded as if he believed it and went to brush his teeth. It was way past his bedtime but he wasn't tired at all.

His mother tucked him in and kissed him good night.

"What if somebody took him?" The scenarios were running wild in his mind. Where could Buster be? Was he all alone and frightened?

"Nobody would just take him." His mother sat down at the edge of his bed and stroked his hair. "If somebody found him he'd look really hard to find the little boy he belongs to."

"You sure?"

"Of course, I am. Nobody would want to take such a great dog away from his owner. Especially if his owner loves his dog as much as you do."

"But he doesn't have his chip yet." Sean reminded her. They had an appointment to microchip Buster at the vet tomorrow. "And he doesn't have his collar on, how would somebody know who he belongs to?"

His mother was thinking about that question. "You know what? If he isn't back tomorrow on his own we'll put up posters with his picture. And I'll call all the veterinarians and dog shelters around here if somebody has brought Buster in. How's that?"

That was a good idea. If somebody saw the posters and had seen Buster they would know who to call. Or maybe he was in a dog shelter waiting for Sean to pick him up.

"Thanks, Mom." He nodded to himself but stopped at one dark thought. "What if somebody hit him with a car or something?" Buster could be dead. He could be laying in a ditch somewhere dying for all he knew. New panic spiked up but his mom stroke his head once again.

"Don't worry. He's a smart dog." With that she turned off the light. "Good night, Sean." She was out of the door, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

Buster wasn't home by morning.

While Sean ate his breakfast, he wasn't hungry but his mother insisted, she called the vet to cancel the appointment.

"Yes, that would have been with Dr. Richardson." She said pacing up and down the kitchen. "I'm sorry but Buster ran off yesterday and he isn't back yet."

Sean ate his cereals. His mom sounded like it was only a matter of time until Buster was back. It helped to ease worries. A bit. Not much.

"You don't happen to have an Australian Shepard brought in yesterday, don't you?" His mom asked and Sean didn't need to hear the answer, her face alone told him that it was a _no_. "Okay, thanks."

"What did she say?" Sean asked despite the fact that he knew the answer. He stirred the by now sodden cereal in his bowl.

"She's just started her shift so she doesn't know about last night but they don't have Buster there." She sat down next to him. "Eat up and then we'll start with the posters, shall we?" She smiled but it looked forced. While he finished his breakfast she made a few more calls but Buster hadn't turned up anywhere.

They made the posters and Sean asked everybody on the street if he had seen his dog. Nobody had. Nobody called after they'd put up the posters. The rain ruined them two days later but they hadn't been of any help anyway.

One day turned into two and then into a week and there was still no sign of Buster.

Sean sat outside all day waiting for his dog to come home but he didn't. At night he listened into the darkness in the faint hope to hear a bark outside his window which never came. Buster didn't make it home by himself.

"I'm sorry, honey." His mom sat down next to him on the porch. It had been over a week now and deep down Sean knew Buster wouldn't come home.

His mom hugged him tight and he tucked his head under her chin. He couldn't stop the tears but she just stroked his back and rocked him slightly.

"I was thinking." She started after his cries had died down a bit. "How about we'll look for another dog?"

"I don't want another dog." He stared at her. How could she dare to suggest that? "I want Buster."


End file.
